Even as fear and danger rise, something new is emerging in our world. At Standing Rock, we saw activism braiding culture, spirituality, and politics so seamlessly that no one could pull them apart, and so powerfully that its force reverberated around the globe.

The Water Protectors inspired our work going forward to achieve planetary and social justice. They expressed the life-giving unity that echoes in Jews’ daily repetition of the Sh’ma, the exhortation to listen deeply to the truth that the Source of Life is One.

To catalyze future action, to mark the moment, to rise in the face of terrible forces and persist, we are gathering in Philadelphia on May 21st to honor three towering figures who understand this new, indivisible power to move hearts, minds, and miracles. This moment is calling you in:

whether in person, or to contribute your personal message of hope and honor to the Tribute Book being assembled for this event. -- even if you cannot make it to Philadelphia.

Please be aware that after May 7, the contribution level rises – so act NOW!

However you help, you make it possible to advance The Shalom Center’s work in taking on our own new transformative direction. See below for what we mean!

At the same time, you will be honoring these transformative leaders:

Bill McKibben, world-renowned leader of 350.org and of campaigns against the Keystone XL Tar Sands dirty-oil Pipeline -- now exploring the next step to resist the Trumpian feverish insistence on wrecking Mother Earth and subjecting our kids to lead and mercury poisoning.

Bishop Dwayne Royster, former director of POWER in Philadelphia, instigator of POWER’s jobs-and-climate alliance with EQAT (Earth Quaker Action Team); now the political director of PICO, the national umbrella for religious congregation-based community organizing, with a special involvement with African-American and Latino communities; and

Sophia Wilansky, the young anti-pipeline organizer who, after stints working against oil-delivery pipelines in New England and New York, came to Standing Rock as a Water Protector and was cruelly wounded by the militarized police. Sophia will be introduced by Chief Dwaine Perry of the Ramapough Lenape, recently featured by the NY Times for his Nation’s resistance to yet another water-poisoning pipeline.

What is more, even if you think you already know what and who The Shalom Center is, “Seeds of Transformative Leadership“ is a restart-place for us as well. We will sow our own seeds of transformation. Here’s how:

Almost all scientists and even the most climate-sensitive political activists have accepted that the best we can achieve is bare survival in the midst of continuing climate turmoil, because even ending all CO2 emissions will leave gigantic amounts of CO2 wreaking havoc in the atmosphere.

We have started working with scientists who are looking toward a more compelling vision –– that our children and grandchildren live once again in the Earth’s climate joyful and abundant as it was for our parents and grandparents.

That means getting many many tons of CO2 out of our atmosphere. It can be done – but it will be expensive for our society as a whole. Many politicians simply assume that ends the discussion --- especially in a political situation where Corporate Carbon Pharaohs are willing to wreck the Earth to multiply their profits.

How do we change this? How do we make a new vision of our relationship to Mother Earth one that inspires people into action?

The scientists who see this also realize that science alone cannot make the necessary social change happen.. They – and we – see the religious communities of America as a sleepy, yawning giant whose energy and commitment are crucial to make the vision real.

So The Shalom Center has been invited to convene and guide a network of diverse religious teachers and liturgists to make this happen -- by making the goal part of religious life. Creating the sermonic, educational, and liturgical materials to do this, and getting them widely used in the religious communities.

We cannot do this without your help, your commitment –-- your covenant. That begins on May 21.

It is no accident that these three transformative people agreed to be with us. Now it is up to you:

Search form

Make a recurring donation and receive Freedom Journeys as our token of appreciation. Click here for more info about the book. Freedom Journeys is a deep meditation on the timeless—and timely—relevance of the Exodus narrative. In the grand tradition of mystical exegesis, Waskow and Berman reflect upon Exodus not only as an event that happened “then” and “there”, but a paradigm of movement that is happening here and in the now, for all of us, Jew and Muslim, Black and White, male and female. —Omid Safi, professor of Islamic studies, University of North Carolina.